Petherton exit EDF Vase after a disastrous performance

17/11/07 - EDF Junior Vase Round 4 South West: Southmead 49 v 7 North Petherton

Report by Lloyd Williams

There was very little to take away from this game apart from five fine debut performances. Colt Steve Potter, normally a fullback, never took a backwards step on the wing and showed commitment and aggression with ball in hand. Ex-Albion player Larry Steward, who filled at eight, worked continuously all afternoon and showed some aggressive attitude that has been missing recently. Davie Rae, returning to the club and normally a centre but filling in at 6, showed good commitment even though his job was made almost impossible by the state of the scrummaging. Matt Foad, new to the club showed to be a very useful player, strong in attack, running a great line to score Pethy’s only try and solid in defence, which he kept up for 65 minutes before he damaged his fingers and went off. Finally, young prop Adam Williams, who is still very new to the game, but has shown commitment to training and willingness to learn, rightly deserved his first cap.

This match will be one to forget for Petherton, as will the build up to game. A deluge of injuries, illnesses, unsure whether players could make the early kick-off and general un-availabilities, meant that the starting team was not known until 15 minutes before the kick-off. With no James Lees, Pethy were reduced to one recognised lineout jumper, so yet again the inexperienced Lee Hughes was prepared to stand in by scarifying his work commitments.

The First half started badly and continued that way for all 40 minutes. Pethy faced a game style they constantly train for, the home side threw the ball wide setting up quick ball and ran at a constantly out numbered and disorganised defence. The first and only time Pethy had quick clean ball, Matt Foad ran a training ground move under the posts, which Tom Williams converted. The home side played the short pitch well, often sending long testing kicks that were chased up well, making it very hard for the back three to clear their lines, let alone counter-attack. With Pethy winning only 50% of their lineouts and even fewer scrums, things were not helped when Larry Steward was sin-binned for retaliation. All this meant they rarely saw the ball and when they did it was to clear their lines.

In the second half Pethy only lost 10 – 0, but this was only because of some heroic tackling, notably by Tom Williams and the fact that Pethy finally organised their defence. In the last 20 minutes Pethy put some real attacks together but they were started from so deep in their own half, which meant they never got close to the line. Pethy were given an increasing amount of penalties in the second half, but no cards were shown for repeated infringements. With several penalties 5 meters out, only disorganisation and players getting isolated stopped Pethy from getting a consolation score. Then in the final play of the game, quick ball in the opposition half saw the ball spread wide, going through both backs and forwards, it went to young Potter who rounded his opposite man and headed to the corner, before being bundled into touch a couple of meters short of the line.

H/T: 39-7

Tries: Foad

Cons: T.Williams

Pens:

Drop Goals:

Team: 15. T.Williams, 14. B.Williams, 13. R.Williams, 12. Foad (Rep. Hoare, 65), 11. Potter, 10. L.Williams, 9. Rybaruk, 1. M.Burge (Rep. A.Williams, 70), 2. Glanville, 3. Kingston, 4. Hughes (Rep. Lloyd Steward, 40), 5. Harvey, 6. Rae (Rep. M.Brown, 40), 7. Gingell, 8. Larry Steward.